Journal of Animal Science and Technology
Korean Society of Animal Science and Technology
Article

Effects of dietary protease supplementation on growth rate, nutrient digestibility, and intestinal morphology of weaned pigs

Minho Song1, Byeonghyeon Kim1, Jin Ho Cho2, Hyunjin Kyoung1, Sangwoo Park1, Jee-Yeon Cho3, Kyeong Il Park1, Hyeun Bum Kim4,*, Jeong Jae Lee1,5,**
1Division of Animal and Dairy Science, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 34134, Korea.
2Division of Food and Animal Science, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 28644, Korea.
3DSM Nutrition Korea Ltd., Seoul 06675, Korea.
4Department of Animal Resources Science, Dankook University, Cheonan 31116, Korea.
5Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Korea.
**Corresponding Author: Hyeun Bum Kim, Department of Animal Resources Science, Dankook University, Cheonan 31116, Korea, Republic of. Phone: 82-41-550-3653. E-mail: hbkim@dankook.ac.kr.
**Corresponding Author: Jeong Jae Lee, Division of Animal and Dairy Science, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 34134, Korea, Republic of. Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Korea, Republic of. Phone: 82-53-950-7764. E-mail: leejeongjae@gmail.com.

© Copyright 2022 Korean Society of Animal Science and Technology. This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Received: Mar 30, 2022; Revised: Apr 08, 2022; Accepted: Apr 11, 2022

Published Online: May 10, 2022

Abstract

The addition dietary proteases (PRO) to weaner diets hydrolyzes soybean-based anti-nutritive factors and improves weaned pig’s dietary digestibility and growth performance. Therefore, this study explores the effects of PRO in a lower crude protein (CP) level diet than that in a commercial diet on the growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and intestinal morphology of weaned pigs. A total of 90 weaned pigs were randomly assigned to 3 dietary treatments with 6 pigs per pen and 5 replicated pens per treatment using a randomized complete block design (block = BW): 1) a commercial weaner diet as a positive control (PC; phase1 CP = 23.71%; phase2 CP: 22.36%), 2) lower CP diet than PC as a negative control (NC; 0.61% less CP than PC), and 3) an NC diet with 0.02% PRO. Pigs fed PC and PRO had higher (<italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.05) final BW, average daily gain, and/or gain to feed ratio for the first three weeks and the overall experimental period than NC. The PC and PRO groups had greater (<italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.05) apparent ileal digestibility of dry matter, crude protein, and energy than the NC group. Moreover, pigs fed PC and PRO increased (<italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.05) apparent total tract digestibility of crude protein compared with those fed NC. In addition, the PRO group had a higher the number of goblet cells than the PC and NC groups. However, pig fed PC and PRO increased (<italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.05) villus height and height to crypt depth ratio in the ileum compared with those fed NC. In conclusion, PRO supplementation in a commercial weaner diet with low CP levels improves growth rate and nutrient digestibility by modulating intestinal morphology of weaned pigs.

Keywords: commercial weaner diet; dietary protease; growth rate; intestinal morphology; nutrient digestibility; weaned pigs